Current technology offers a variety of techniques to print information, e.g., text and images, onto a receptor, such as paper, Mylar sheet or coated material. Many of the printing techniques are based on the physical transport of a pigment or ink from a reservoir to a receptor in a controlled manner. In FIG. 1 a printing system 100, which can be represented by three broad parts: 1) a storage 110 for the pigment, 2) a transport mechanism 120 to deliver the pigment and 3) a receptor 130 to receive the pigment, e.g., a print media, is shown.
The storage 110 can be implemented in a number of different manners, e.g., a toner cartridge for a laserjet printer that carries pigment in powder form, an inkjet cartridge for an inkjet printer that carries liquid pigment or a print ribbon in a dot matrix printer.
Similarly, the transport mechanism 120 can be implemented in a number of different ways e.g., the formation and propulsion of droplets by thermal evaporation, acoustic waves or electrical means. Typically, the droplets exit the storage medium and travel a gap to reach the receptor as shown for example by Choi et al., in Society for Imaging Science and Technology, pages 33-35, (1996) and by Crowley, U.S. Pat. No. 4,220,958.
These printing technologies are often-components of a much larger system or they must be manipulated or serviced by a larger system to perform their primary printing function. More importantly, the transport mechanism generally requires a significant amount of energy to perform properly, e.g., a high voltage is needed to evaporate droplets onto a paper. This limitation significantly reduces the portability of the printing device. Thus, a need exists in the art for a print array that is capable of forming precise droplets that can be dispensed onto a receptor in a high-density formation with relatively low power.